'Phl needs more foreign aid'

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippines needs more assistance from multilateral agencies if it is to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the recently signed Philippine Development Goals (PDG), according to United Nations officials.

But the high-level delegation composed of executive board members of the United Nations, which just concluded a week-long ocular inspection of the Philippines, said that the country was doing well and serving as an example to other developing countries under the watch of the UN.

The officials were representatives of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the UN Population Fund, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the World Food Program (WFP) that visited areas in Albay, Sarangani, and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM).

Ambassador Brian Bowler, the permanent representative for Malawi to UNICEF and overall team leader, said that the development environment in the Philippines was restrictive.

“It is all linked to poverty where the risk is high for mothers and children,” Bowler said in a press briefing yesterday.

The biggest challenges are malnutrition, universal primary education, reducing maternal and neonatal mortality and prevention of HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence.

But he expressed satisfaction that the Philippines had a roadmap to prosperity  (PDG), guided by the MDG.

“The pillar stone (PDG) are the formula that can change the country,” the UN team leader said.

Bowler added: “We need to upscale intervention in the partnership.” That means monetary and technical assistance to the Philippines must be increased if it were to reduce poverty incidence and other situations related to poverty.

Other officials said that the Philippines needed more help, since it has already achieved much.

Nojibur Rahman, UNDP/UNFDA economic minister and permanent resident to New York, said that the country not only needed financial support but also people, time and technology.

“There has to be an improvement in quality, aside from an increase in quantity,” Rahman told reporters. He said that in his trip to Albay, he noticed an increase in enrolment in the public schools.

“In our Asian countries, we recorded a drop in enrolment. That is why the Philippines is doing good, but it needs more,” he added.

The UN team said that the Aquino administration was creating a conducive environment for development. But they admitted that there still remain  impediments such as corruption.

However, the UN and its allied agencies do not impose sanctions.

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have imposed sanctions on individuals or private companies that were found to be involved in corruption on aid-related infrastructure projects.

“The Philippine government deserves support wherever and whenever it can be given; it has shown leadership and political will,” Bowler said.

The UN high-level team is expected to make their recommendations to the UN Executive Board in coordination with the Philippine office, and the report will be released within the first semester.